


Red

by rinthegreat



Series: Klance Missing Scenes [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Keith angst, Langst, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03, Season 3 Spoilers, bonding time with Red
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-13 23:46:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11770974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinthegreat/pseuds/rinthegreat
Summary: "Where’s Lance?” Shiro asks. As if he should know.“I thought he was with you.”“Uh, Keith?” His ears, more sensitive than before he’d unlocked his Galra genes, pick up the quiet voice from his helmet. He raises it to his head. “Can you hear me?”Keith ignores the strange looks from the rest of the team. “Yeah, I can hear you.”“Can you, uh, come down here? I need some help.”





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> why choose between keith angst and langst when you can have both?
> 
> unbetaed. edited while half asleep. there are probably errors. please forgive them. :)

“Great work out there, team,” Shiro’s voice sounds in Keith’s speakers, his face appearing on the screen in front of him. “Now come back home.”

Keith’s still not used to it – not used to Shiro leading them from afar while he wears the mantle of the Black Paladin like an imposter. So instead he defaults to his new normal: support Shiro like the right hand he really is while pretending it was his idea all along. Like the leader he pretends to be. “Alright guys, let’s head back to the castle for debrief.”

He should’ve known something was wrong from the way Red held back. Keith knows better than anyone how much she relishes beating the rest of the lions in. How when there’s no danger, she races to get there first.

So he should’ve known something’s wrong when she hesitates. When she’s the last one back to the castle.

Instead, he doesn’t register anything strange until he gets to the bridge and finds everyone there. Except one. “Where’s Lance?” Shiro asks. As if he should know.

“I thought he was with you.”

“Uh, Keith?” His ears, more sensitive than before he’d unlocked his Galra genes, pick up the quiet voice from his helmet. He raises it to his head. “Can you hear me?”

Keith ignores the strange looks from the rest of the team. “Yeah, I can hear you.”

“Can you, uh, come down here? I need some help.”

Immediately, Keith’s pulse picks up. He doesn’t catch any labored breathing, any strain in Lance’s voice that would indicate he’s injured. The worry doesn’t disappear, though. Instead it almost seems to multiply. “I’ll be right there.”

Keith lowers his helmet. “Start the debrief without us,” he tells Shiro as he heads out the door.

He waits until the door slides closed behind him before bursting into a run. Something’s wrong with Lance. Something is very, very wrong. His mind whirrs back to Red’s hesitation, Red being the last to come in. That must’ve been a sign, a warning. And he ignored it.

Something happened on the mission.

He races down the halls as fast as he can, familiar walls flying past him until he ends up in the hangar he knows well. The one he hasn’t been able bring himself to visit since he took over for Shiro.

Red’s particle barrier is up when he gets there.

“Lance?” He calls out, looking around. “Lance, are you in here?”

No reply.

He lifts the helmet to his face and tries again. “Lance?”

“I’m here. Can you get Red to lower her barrier?”

Keith raises his eyebrow. “You’re her paladin now. Can’t you do that?”

He means it to be funny, expects a _hur hur, very funny Mullet_ in response. Instead he gets an awkward silence followed by an even more awkward laugh. “Not really…”

Lance sounds so…small. “What do you mean not really?” Keith asks, pushing down the knots gathering in his stomach.

“I mean Red won’t let me out.”

“What? Why?” Alarm bells blare in his mind. He steps forward, banging his hand on the barrier. “Lance, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Keith, you gotta let me out.”

The barrier doesn’t move, doesn’t show any sign of letting Keith in. In fact, Keith can’t feel Red’s presence at all. “Lance,” he starts, breathless. “Was Red working when the mission ended?” Without Red, they can’t form Voltron. Not only that: without Red, Keith won’t be complete anymore. Sure, Black accepts him now. But it’s not the same. He’s not the _real_ Black Paladin

“She’s fine, can’t you tell?” Lance sounds confused, but at least his voice is stronger now.

Keith can’t feel her though. Not even a little. He tugs his helmet over his head so Lance can’t see his expression. Red is…rejecting him. Already has, most likely. It hits him in the chest with the force of the gladiator, but Keith pushes the emotions aside. He has bigger issues to deal with right now than losing his lion.

“Why isn’t she opening the barrier? Was it closed before I came down?” _Do I need to leave?_ And then in a somber voice, Keith adds: “Are you hurt?”

Lance exhales a shaky breath. “It’s been up since we got back. She won’t even let me out of the cockpit.”

“Are you hurt?” Keith repeats, more forceful this time.

“No. I’m fine. She just won’t let me out. Can you convince her or not?”

Keith closes his eyes, even though he knows Lance can’t see him through the helmet. “No, I can’t. You’re her paladin now. You’re going to have to do it yourself.” He fights to keep his voice steady. To keep himself from getting worked up over something outside of his – and Lance’s – control.

“I _can’t_.” While Keith’s been trying to keep calm, Lance has clearly reached the end of his own rope. His voice breaks at the word, something like a sob echoing in Keith’s ears.

Keith clenches his fist, hitting it half-heartedly on the barrier again. It doesn’t give. “I’m…I’m not the Red Paladin anymore. She won’t open for me.” He means it to sound matter-of-fact. Blunt. Straight forward. It’s only the truth, after all.

Instead he can hear the tremble in his voice, the hurt Lance can’t possibly miss. And he doesn’t.

“What?”

“I’m not her paladin anymore, okay?!” He shouts. “I can’t help you!”

Keith regrets snapping at him almost immediately. This isn’t Lance’s fault. Had the same happened to him, he would’ve called Shiro down and asked for help.

“But then who’s supposed to fly Red?”

Lance sounds so unsure, so genuinely confused. As if he’s not the one inside the red lion’s cockpit right now. The brittle quality of his voice is the only thing that keeps Keith from yelling again. He takes a deep breath, calming himself. “You are.”

“I’m not.”

It’s so quiet, Keith almost missed it. Would’ve if he weren’t part-Galra. Instead, he hears it. Hears the shaky breaths that follow. The drops that can’t be anything but tears hitting Lance’s mic.

_Things will work themselves out_ , he’d said. But he’d been wrong. Now they’re stuck here, on either side of a barrier made by the lion who won’t listen to either of them. It’s too perfect. He’s not meant to be the Black Paladin, and now he can’t even be the red one.

Keith bows his head forward, defeated. This is completely hopeless. Lotor’s out there somewhere doing who knows what, while they’re stuck in the castle trying to re-form the team for the third time.

He leans too far and stumbles a few steps before he can right himself again, nearly smacking into Red’s paw. Keith spins around in time to see the barrier close behind him. But this time, he’s inside.

Red lowers her head and Keith runs up the stairs that appear before she can change her mind. He half-expects the cockpit to be locked. For him to get this far just to have his path blocked again.

But the door opens without a problem, and Keith barrels through.

Lance is hunched over in his seat, the blue of his suit standing out against the red glow around them. Keith doesn’t spare a moment to soak up the familiarity of it, instead rushing forward and tossing his helmet to the side.

“Hey.” He reaches out, grabbing Lance’s hands. “Look at me.”

There’s a sniffle, but Lance’s head tilts up. His eyes are bloodshot, tear tracks not even dried against his face. And he’s still the most beautiful person Keith’s ever seen.

“Are you hurt?” He asks for a third time. Because he has to check, has to make sure. There’s a nagging voice in the back of his head he has to placate. One that tells him Lance will keep things bottled up, will hide all his pain until it cripples him.

The way it has now.

“I wasn’t even hit,” Lance assures, sounding less irritated than he likely intends.

Keith nods, biting his lip. Any words he could say to reassure Lance won’t mean anything. They’re nothing more than empty promises. He sits there, leaning over Lance’s legs, eventually dropping his gaze when he can’t take it anymore.

“Why did Red lock you in here?” He asks Lance’s leg eventually. He mumbles, hoping a little that Lance won’t hear him.

No such luck.

“I’m not really sure.”

Lance is lying. Or at least, he’s not saying everything. He knows more than he’s letting on.

Keith tries a different angle. “What was the last thing you remember before she started acting strange?”

Lance stiffens. Just as he thought, something happened on the mission. Or at least around the same time.

“Please, Lance. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

Lance’s fingers twitch. “I…I was planning to leave.”

Keith’s head snaps up. “What?”

But Lance’s face is turned away from him. “We don’t need six paladins,” he explains. The same math he’d given Keith when Shiro came back. “The whole team’s thinking it. You did a great job taking over as leader while Shiro was gone, but I know you miss Red. And Allura caught on to Blue so fast, faster than any of us. I could barely handle Blue, let alone Red. I mean, it can’t be a coincidence that I was the only one who didn’t have a special weapon when we formed Voltron. Even Pidge has the shield.”

Keith can only stare at Lance, mouth opening and closing wordlessly. Because he can’t deny it.

But his chest clenches. The thought of the team without Lance, of going through missions without a single mention of parades, women, glory…it’s not a pleasant one. No sharpshooter to watch their back? No one there to bluntly tell Keith when he’s endangering the team?

He won’t do it.

“Lance,” he chokes out. Keith’s vaguely aware of the wetness on his cheeks. The drops falling, mirroring Lance’s own. “We can’t form Voltron without you.”

“Of course you can. We could form it without Shiro.”

Keith shakes his head. “It’s not the same.”

“I’m weak.”

“You’re _not_.”

“Keith, please.”

“So help me, I will keep you in this lion until you accept that Voltron needs you.”

Silence.

Keith blinks, his own words finally registering in his mind. Warmth fills him, pleased and red. It feels like home, so familiar and comforting. Keith drops his head in relief to Lance’s knee as Red’s presence enters him again.

“I think I know why Red is keeping you in here,” he mumbles against the white armor.

He feels Lance’s gloves on the back of his neck. Gentle and hesitant. “You’re gonna have to let me out eventually.”

“Then I won’t let you out of my sight.”

“That doesn’t seem practical.”

“I’ll lock down all the shuttles so you can’t use them to escape.”

“What about the escape pods?”

Keith’s fingers tighten around Lance’s hand, surprised he hasn’t let go yet. “Please don’t leave us.”

There’s a pause. Keith holds his breath, praying for an answer he can survive.

“Okay,” Lance says finally, letting Keith exhale. “I won’t leave.”

There’s far more. More Lance isn’t saying. More they need to work out. But for now, Keith can live with this. He can step away knowing he won’t push the issue aside again. Not this time.

Lance lets him stay there, doesn’t even move his hand from where it rests on Keith’s neck. After what might have been a few minutes or possibly even a few hours, Keith hears a chuckle. He shifts, neck creaking as it moves. Not a few minutes then.

“What?”

Lance nods forward. Reluctantly, Keith sits up and turns around, looking out the front. The particle barrier is gone. He hears a whoosh and looks back, just in time to see the door slide open.

“Guess that means we’re allowed out now.”

“Yeah. Guess so,” Keith agrees. He shoots a mental _thank you_ to Red and gets something like a purr in return.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! you can find me on [tumblr](https://rinthegreat.tumblr.com). <3


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